Full text: Higher learning institutions are being turned into war zones, IIT Madras professors write to President

The JNU row escalated on Tuesday as a group of IIT-Madras faculty expressed concern on institutions of higher learning being converted into "war zones". They also said that calling for the country's "dismemberment and ruin" in the name of dissent is not acceptable.

In a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee, the 56 faculty members said educational institutions need to be saved from the scholarship of abuse and hate. They also sought the President's intervention in the issue.

IIT-Madras. IBNLive

"We feel concerned about the situation in the country where institutions of higher learning are being converted into war zones by some academicians, politicians and sections of media.

"We support intellectual freedom, and alternative views are a must for democracy and creativity. However, there is a deep distortion of the meaning of academic freedom which is leading to a vitiated atmosphere in the campuses," they said.

They have requested the President to take steps for saving educational institutions from the "scholarship of abuse, hate and discord" and restoring the atmosphere of sobriety, reflection and harmony necessary for genuine scholarship, Shreepad Karmalkar, a professor and one of the signatories, said in a statement.

"In the name of academic autonomy, angry academics should not wage their ideological wars, nor can an institute campus be beyond the norms of the society outside in matters of abusive and hateful expressions. Calling for dismemberment and ruin of our country in the name of dissent is not acceptable, even in a university," the letter said.